Columbia Finally Suspends Students Involved in Library Takeover

It has been just shy of ten weeks since a mob of anti-Israel activists stormed the campus library at Columbia University.

RIGHT NOW AT COLUMBIA: Masked anti-Israel students just broke into the library during finals week.

Columbia Public Safety unsuccessfully attempted to stop them. pic.twitter.com/vBfkQFlwUW

— Eden Yadegar (@edenyadegar) May 7, 2025

They took over an upstairs reading room the week before finals and did a bunch of chanting, including “from the river to the sea” in Arabic.

BREAKING: Public Safety officers are standing by. Protesters are chanting “min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falastin arabieh” (“from the river to the sea, Palestine will be Arab”). They’re draping banners from the bookshelves, distributing stickers and pamphlets glorifying Oct 7, and… pic.twitter.com/MPeQ6O0gRA

— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) May 7, 2025

But, for once, campus safety did something pretty smart. They announced that anyone could leave by presenting a valid student ID. Anyone who refused to present ID would be arrested. The activists didn’t like this because it meant they would all be identified and could be subject to accountability. So having forced their way into the library, they now did their best to force their way out.

Protesters attempting to stampede public safety to avoid being identified as they leave pic.twitter.com/4yiYXbvGk2

— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) May 7, 2025

They reached out to the remainder of their comrades outside who made an attempt to shove their way inside and break up the blockade. But security was prepared this time and kept them out.

BREAKING 🚨: Protesters are assaulting and trying to trample Public Safety officers outside of Butler Library @Columbia. I’m terrified. pic.twitter.com/Y5kdHfDhmh

— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) May 7, 2025

They called for “faculty mediation” and that didn’t work either. Then one of the activists pulled a fire alarm figuring that would force an evacuation of the building. But that didn’t work either.

BREAKING: The fire alarm at Butler Library has been pulled — a clear tactic to let Columbia’s student radicals exit without consequence after their illegal occupation.

I would love to hear the internal monologues of Columbia’s public safety team right now. pic.twitter.com/MuZ13iW8tk

— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 7, 2025

When the activists still refused to show ID and leave, the police were called and dozens were arrested.

At least 80 people were detained Wednesday night, police confirmed, after protesters took over a room of a Columbia University library in a resurgence of the on-campus pro-Palestinian demonstrations that rocked the nation last spring…

The people involved in the protest refused to identify themselves and leave, Columbia said Wednesday evening, prompting the call to police.

“Requesting the presence of the NYPD is not the outcome we wanted, but it was absolutely necessary to secure the safety of our community,” it said in a statement, saying it believed people not affiliated with the university were also involved.

A couple days later the school announced interim suspensions for many of those involved.

The elite Morningside Heights school has already handed down at least 65 interim suspensions to students who were part of Wednesday’s Butler Library chaos pending further investigation, a school official told The Post.

Another 33 individuals, including those from affiliated institutions, and an unspecified number of alumni were also barred from campus, the official said as Columbia faced pressure to take strong action against the agitators.

But those were just temporary measures. Yesterday, the school took more permanent action, handing out longer suspensions and even some expulsions.

More than 70 students are set to be punished for their involvement in the hugely disruptive Butler Library chaos that unfolded on May 7, as well as the encampment that popped up on the Morningside Heights campus in spring 2024, sources familiar with the disciplinary action said.

Roughly two-thirds of those will be hit with suspensions between one and three years, with the majority being hit with two-year suspensions, the sources said.

Those involved were informed of their punishments on Monday following a probe by the elite school’s University Judicial Board.

The school released a statement praising themselves for this speedy resolution.

“Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences. The speed with which our updated UJB system has offered an equitable resolution to the community and students involved is a testament to the hard work of this institution to improve its processes.”

Ten weeks may not seem very speedy to you but it took Columbia nearly a year to punish students involved in the Hamilton Hall takeover. So this is an improvement. Why they gave these nuts two year suspensions instead of expelling all of them is a fair question though. I guess the upside here is that those suspended can’t do it again or they almost certainly will be expelled. If Columbia had only taken this approach about 18 months ago this could have been shut down before it really got started.